Modern Day Diets Essay

Everyday people are constantly being bombarded with numerous commercials, ads, pills and plans about the next big item or routine to eat healthier or exercise more. Why are these advertisements becoming more popular? Obesity for the human race has doubled worldwide since 1980 (“Obesity”). The constant access to unhealthy foods and lack of exercise is associating obesity and its’ related health problems as the new norm. Although there is more to our weight gain than our unhealthy diets. Our modern day diets are negatively affecting something deeper inside of our bodies—our genes. The genes that are being expressed in our bodies are constantly changing beginning when we are in the womb to our deathbeds because of what we are eating. The role diet has on our bodies begins where we begin—in the womb. However, our nutrition during this time is coming from our mother instead of ourselves. During gestation, our genes are constantly changing as a result of our development and diet. Diseases that tend to develop later in life—such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and hypertension—are found to …show more content…
The amount of unhealthy food a mother eats while she is pregnant may cause an increase in the IGF2 methylation (Rijlaarsdam et al.). IGF2 is also known as insulin growth factor two, and is associated with fetal growth and development when it is methylated (European). A link has been discovered between an increase IGF2 methylation and ADHD in children. Studies show that mothers who eat unhealthy diets give birth to children with high IGF2 methylation levels, and as a result those children have a higher chance of developing ADHD as they age (Rijlaarsdam et al.). Overall, a mother should be more cautious when she is eating for two, because her diet choices could cause drastic changes to her baby’s gene